The invention is used on shuttle tankers, either on the bow or on the poop, for handling a mooring hawser and loading hose.
On traditional shuttle tankers the bow loading system is arranged so that the mooring winch is placed on the platform deck of the ship in its center line. A chain stopper and a fairlead are placed in front of the winch. The hose is pulled on board by means of a separate hose handling winch placed on the main deck in the center line of the ship. This solution requires the platform deck to have large dimensions due to the necessary structure underneath the mooring winch.
By modifying the mooring winch to include an extra drum for hose handling, the entire coupling procedure can be performed by one and the same winch. Through the use of guide pulleys the mooring winch can be placed on the main deck, an arrangement having several advantages. For instance, the size of the platform deck can be reduced, and the forces that occur can be absorbed in a simple manner due to the structure already present in the main deck.
This is obtained by extending a shaft out of the drive unit of the mooring winch and placing the hose handling drum thereon. Thus, the hose handling drum as well as the mooring drum are driven by the same drive unit, but may be operated independently of each other since it is possible to uncouple them from the drive unit. The combined winch is placed on the main deck with the hose handling drum in the center line of the ship. This means that the mooring drum will be located to the side of the center line of the ship. When pulling in of the mooring hawser, the hawser is guided through the fairlead and chain stopper. A horizontal guide pulley is placed behind the chain stopper in order to guide the hawser out from the center line of the ship. Next, the hawser is guided down to the mooring drum by means of a vertical guide pulley. After completion of the mooring operation, this part is uncoupled from the drive unit and the hose handling drum is connected in order to pull in the loading hose.